Leah Sayles, Leader In Abortion Rights Movement

Leah Silberzan Sayles, a leader in the movement to legalize abortion in the U.S., died Nov. 23 at her home in Manhattan.

She was 61 and died of a brain tumor, her family said.

Ms. Sayles joined the board of directors of the Abortion Justice Association in 1969, was a founding member of the National Abortion Federation and was active in the National Abortion Rights Action League.

Soon after earning a master`s degree in social work from the University of Pittsburgh in 1968, she became the counseling director for Planned Parenthood in Western Pennsylvania, based in Pittsburgh. In 1973 she established Women`s Health Services in Pittsburgh and was its executive director for 11 years.

The agency at one time described itself as the nation`s largest non-profit abortion clinic.